Page 253 - Art In The Age Of Exploration (Great Section on Chinese Art Ming Dynasty)

ture. It appears to consist of two identical palace The chronology of Piero's career is less clearly Mansueti painted two of the canvases, while
blocks separated by a colonnaded forum and com- charted than we might like, but the formal sym- Lazzaro Bastiani, Benedetto Diana, and Pietro
pletely surrounded by a single-story colonnade metry of the design points to a relatively late date, Perugino completed one apiece. Carpaccio's con-
with a horizontal architrave, which is topped by no earlier than his work for Strozzi in 1510. tribution can be dated with some certainty to
rows of statues. The flat platform between the M.K. 1494 (Bergasconi 1981) and is among the earliest
architrave and the palaces provides an elevated works in the cycle. The latest was painted by Gen-
walkway with access to the second-story doors. tile Bellini in 1500. With the exception of Perugi-
The function of the compound structure appears no's painting, which was destroyed, the cycle is
to be secular. Perhaps the closest parallel is pro- 150 now preserved in the Accademia. In 1544, while
vided by the forms of the forum and basilica Vittore Carpaccio Carpaccio's canvas was still in situ, a portion was
described by Vitruvius in chapter one of his fifth cut from the bottom left edge to accommodate a
book. He explains how Venetian, 1455/1465-1525 or 1526 door. The seventeenth-century repair of the lost
MIRACLE OF THE RELIC portion is clearly apparent. In its original location,
the Greeks lay out their forums in the form of a
square surrounded by very spacious double col- OF THE TRUE CROSS the picture was situated on the east wall of the
onnades, adorn them with columns set rather 1494 Albergo, beside the altar on which the relic
closely together, and with entablatures of stone oil on canvas was housed, with Perugino's painting on the
or marble, and construct walls above in the 3 5 ^ 389 (i43 /sx 153 Vsj other side.
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upper story. references: Lauts 1962; Muraro 1977; Pignatti 1981; The stories in the cycle are concerned with a
Daly Davis 1980; Bergasconi 1981; Nepi Sa're and deeply revered relic that the Scuola guarded in its
He later notes that the architect should "have the Valcanover 1985; Davanzati 1986; Fortini Brown Albergo, a fragment of the True Cross. The
balconies of the upper floor properly arranged so 1988; Humfrey 1991 authenticity of such a relic was thought to be con-
as to be convenient, and to bring in some public firmed by the miracles it facilitated, and each of
revenue/' Alberti paraphrased Vitruvius' account Gallerie dell'Accademia, Venice the narratives in the cycle portrays one of the doc-
of Greek and Roman forums in the eighth book of umented episodes of the relic in effective action.
his De re aedificatoria (On the Art of Building). The painting of large-scale narrative cycles for the The event illustrated by Carpaccio occurred in
However, no one closely reading Vitruvius would Venetian scuole, the lay organizations that 1494, the year in which he was commissioned to
arrive at a structure like that depicted by Piero, exerted so much influence on Venetian religious paint his picture, and concerns a man possessed of
and it is likely that he created a fantasy archi- and civic life, is one of the most remarkable epi- a demon who was cured when the Patriarch of
tecture designed to impress visually rather than to sodes in Renaissance art patronage. Venetian Grado raised the relic above the deranged man's
invite precise functional analysis. The style of the artists developed for these pictures a distinctive head. The procession of white-robed celebrants
architecture is generally in accord with that of narrative and scenic approach centered upon the can be seen wending its way over the wooden
Giuliano da Sangallo, whose portrait Piero ceremonies and rituals through which Venetian Rialto Bridge and up to the handsome balcony
painted, together with that of Giuliano's father society expressed some of its most important where the Patriarch performs the miracle. As was
(Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam). The scattering of aspirations (Fortini Brown 1988). Carpaccio's the case in other of the paintings in this and com-
the workshop activities across the foreground painting is part of the cycle for the Albergo of the parable cycles, many of the figures were intended
plane is also designed more for pictorial effect Scuola di San Giovanni Evangelista, one of the to be recognizable portraits, and the details of the
than for realism, although the detailed portrayal Scuole Grandi, which was undertaken by a team costumes were carefully depicted, such as the
of the laboring masons and carpenters is clearly of artists, possibly led by Gentile Bellini, who robes of a member of the Cavalieri della Calza,
based upon contemporary practice. executed three of the paintings himself. Giovanni with his back to us in the foreground, for which a

252 CIRCA 1492